Portable electronic devices, such as wireless devices, personal digital assistance, multimedia players and recorders, and various other devices are used by many. While sometimes, such devices are single-function devices, technological advancements have increasingly permitted the devices to provide multiple functionalities. Technological advancements have also permitted the development and deployment of devices that provide new functionalities, previously unavailable or too costly for wide-scale usage. Electronic devices, whether single-function or multi-function devices, also are available that provide the new functionalities.
For instance, wireless devices used in cellular, and analogous, radio communication systems are used by many. Early-generation devices provided voice communication services with only limited data communication capabilities. But, successor-generation devices provide for increasingly data-intensive communication Patent services in which large amounts of data are communicated pursuant to performance of a data function. New functionalities sometimes provided to wireless devices generate data that is communicated during operation of the wireless devices. For instance, if the wireless device includes a camera functionality, data representative of, or related to, a recorded image, can be communicated elsewhere.
A wireless device, as well as other types of electronic devices, typically includes a user interface to provide a user of the device with output information in human-perceptible form, and, also, to permit the user of the device to input input information and commands to the device. Significant design efforts are sometimes made to provide user interfaces that are intuitive and are convenient for a user to enter the input information and commands.
Force-sensitive elements, such as force-sensing resistors, are sometimes considered for use in user interfaces. A force-sensitive element exhibits a characteristic or parameter that is dependent upon a force that is applied to the element. A force-sensing resistor (FSR), for instance, exhibits a resistance value that is dependent upon the amount of force applied to a surface of the resistor. A force-sensing resistor is typically formed of a conductive polymer that exhibits a resistance that is dependent, in a predictable manner, upon the amount of force applied to a resistor surface.